


Her Request

by randomscientist



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: (Implied Eventual Off-screen) Character Death, Apologies, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 21:24:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11239548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomscientist/pseuds/randomscientist
Summary: “There’s.. There’s one more thing,” Breathes my employer. The usual crisp authority in her voice fades just enough to be noticeable.





	1. Chapter 1

Perhaps it’s in the way she looks. Or perhaps it’s how she places the phone in my hand, the slowness of her motion (ever graceful, even now) most likely having little to do with the brutal burden of ill health. Somehow I _know_ , that this will be my most important task yet.

Text the unnamed number in the contacts, she instructs. Follow this specific pattern, she adds, once a fortnight at the most. No, it’s not frequent, and yes, a blank message will do, she confirms, seeing my confusion.

“An idiot’s peace of mind depends on it.” She actually smirks slightly at that, her eyes distant, “Old man won’t even be able to read what the texts say. Lost his vision a few months ago.”

She shakes her head, a strand of silver hair falling from her neatly pinned bun. Within an instant, that specific unreadable expression is gone, and her sure, steely gaze refocuses on me, “Please. Consider it my final request, a personal favour.”

“I shall see to it, Ms Wolfe.” I assure her with a firm nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #Irene hiring someone to text Sherlock  
> #when she herself will no longer be capable  
> #deceiving him for one last time  
> #because it would break him  
> #to know that she is really gone  
>  ~~#decades of association has softened her~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Not really a following _chapter_ , and not necessarily what happens. Just one possible version of a companion piece.)

The phone moans. The beekeeper suddenly becomes very still. Slowly he presses the heels of his palms to his eyes, and does not shift his position again for a long while.

He chuckles then, a low sound that resonates not of humour, but pain. “Is this how you've always planned to say goodbye then, Woman,” he murmurs to the quiet room, “one last deception?”

It’s fitting, and more _her_ , he supposes. Many decades ago their entanglement began with a carefully crafted ruse. And now it’s only logical, that it ends with one too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Sherlock _isn't_ able to tell that the texts are no longer from Irene. Maybe the timing and intervals are flawless. And then when _his_ day comes, his final thoughts would be of her, still misbehaving somewhere in this world..
> 
> But what if, what if he is? What if he immediately senses something, picks up a minute clue?


End file.
